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The environmental gulf between Stephen Harper and Tom Mulcair may play out in 2015, but right now the most important voice belongs to Alison Redford.

With the environment back on the Canadian political radar, the most important voice on this issue in Canada today belongs to Alberta Premier Alison Redford, writes the Toronto Star's political affairs columnist Tim Harper. (April 24, 2012) (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)

Alberta Premier Alison Redford is pledging to lead a national energy strategy. Here, a portion of the Shell Albian Sands oilsands mine is seen from an overlook near Fort McMurray, Alta. (July 9, 2008) (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)

There is mounting evidence that Stephen Harper’s determination to make Canada a resource-based economic power may have awakened a sleeping giant.

The environment is back on the Canadian political radar, at least for the moment.

At the very least, the prime minister’s decision to turn back the clock on environmental assessment in this country has crystallized the huge gulf between his vision for this nation and that of NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, a former provincial environment minister.

But, for the moment, Harper and Mulcair can step aside.

The most important voice on this issue in Canada today belongs to Alison Redford.

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If this issue threatens to split east and west or spark social unrest, the Alberta premier will need to lead the way in bringing down the rhetoric.

It was worth noting last week, that, as Western leaders piled on Mulcair for his suggestions that central Canadian manufacturing was being hurt by overheated investment in the oilsands, the most circumspect reaction came from Redford.

While Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall called the remarks “divisive,’’ British Columbia Premier Christy Clark called them “goofy” and federal Conservatives said he was pitting region versus region, Redford used a Calgary speech to chide Mulcair for being ill-informed.

“I always think it’s better for people to comment once they have information than before they do,’’ Redford told her Progressive Conservatives.

Mulcair is planning an Alberta visit, something that will test his conviction, but also Redford’s resolve to reach out to the rest of the country.

She is pledging to lead a national energy strategy, acknowledging Alberta cannot expand its energy infrastructure in isolation and other provinces with resource riches face a similar dilemma.

Redford, however, also knows that she also must look beyond Canadian borders to change the image of the oilsands.

A simple scan of U.S. and world media in a typical week shows what she is up against.

In a self-described apocalyptic view published in The New York Times, environmental pioneer James Hansen wrote that Canada’s oilsands contain “twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history.”

If it were to be fully exploited, he said, and conventional oil, gas and coal supplies continued to emit unabated, the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere would be at higher levels than the Pliocene era, sea levels would rise, coastal cities would be at risk and at least 20 per cent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction.

“Civilization would be at risk.’’

In Esquire noted American writer Charles P. Pierce, in chronicling Nebraska opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, referred to Alberta’s “toxic soup,’’ acknowledged that it had been called “the dirtiest carbon-based fuel in the world,” and “an ecological disaster from the moment it was literally boiled up out of the earth” and referred to the “tarsands moonscape of Alberta.”

The Reuters news agency outlined the unprecedented European lobbying effort by Ottawa and Edmonton as it tries to push back against the European Union proposal to classify oilsands crude as significantly dirtier than other fuels used on the continent.

The fear in the Canadian capitals is that the ruling will further stigmatize the brand and cost billions in European investment.

But a study that was released last week with an eye to pacifying EU concerns has been criticized by Alberta’s Pembina Institute, which claims the Redford government misinterpreted the findings and only served to confirm EU views.

Figures obtained by The Star showed Alberta spent $2.27 million in the U.S. from 2008-2011, advertising the merits of the oilsands, employing U.S.-based lobbyists and arranging tours of the oilsands for American legislators.

On the home front, an industry-funded program which brings educators north, all expenses paid, to witness the oilsands operation first hand, has been expanded beyond Alberta.

Government officials in both Ottawa and Edmonton concede the anti-oil sands campaign globally is gaining steam.

The stakes are huge and the national debate is crucial.

But the real battle for perception is being waged by Redford, the woman who has vowed to put the “progressive” back into progressive conservative and build bridges both at home and abroad.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca

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